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Spongebob isn’t everybody’s cup of tea; hell, he isn’t actually mine! From the obnoxious snigger and the puerile behaviour to his sheer ignorance at his boss’ capitalistic gluttony, for a very long time I averted the character and collection utterly. Lately although, I’ve began to recognise the deserves of the collection: the dry, darkish humour; the persistently humorous side-cast; the creeping realisation that Squidward is the one sane character – It’s not simply the brainless cartoon I as soon as thought it was. It even had a reasonably good musical adaptation! So once I observed Spongebob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake was releasing shortly I assumed it might be price a glance; particularly after listening to of the large quantity of affection some gamers have for the same previous title – Battle for Bikini Backside.
For many who’ve been residing underneath a rock for the previous few many years, Spongebob Squarepants is a well-liked cartoon collection which follows a yellow sea sponge – Spongebob – who lives in a pineapple underneath the ocean. He works at a burger store, has a snail-cat-thing known as Gary and has a voice which may curdle milk. It’s a typically foolish collection, but it surely’s been endlessly well-liked because it arrived in 1999. There have been a number of video games launched underneath the property, however most have felt like easy money grabs and have been poorly obtained, however from the outset SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake – a classically designed mascot platformer – feels instantly totally different.
The sport opens with Spongebob setting out for a stunning day at a theme park. He will get previous a automobile/ship pile-up in his hometown of Bikini Backside, meets a few of the varied residents, has a stunning day, and eventually comes residence. Having purchased a bottle of magical bubble fluid from a suspicious fortune teller, he finds he can materialise his mates’ desires in bubble type – however after over-using this energy a disaster hits and the city is totally destroyed, scattering the residents throughout time and house. The remainder of the sport is then a journey by way of a lot of thematic “wishworlds” to rescue them and restore Bikini Backside. So far as the plot goes, it feels rather more fascinating than most discovered throughout the style and the stakes genuinely really feel excessive. As an off-the-cuff viewer, I solely recognised a number of characters initially, however the introduction offers every sufficient screen-time for you to have the ability to determine why they’re fascinating and truly care once they’re ripped into one other world. The overarching plot and thriller had been additionally fairly cool and inspired me to play on.
As in most platformers, you’ll spend many of the sport preventing enemies, leaping between platforms and fixing environmental puzzles in a collection of smaller worlds. While the controls and gameplay aren’t as tight as one thing like in Tremendous Mario Odyssey, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake does a surprisingly respectable job avoiding the frustrations usually seen in all these video games. While I wouldn’t dream of calling it troublesome, the tougher platforming sections really feel honest and also you get a good suggestion of what you possibly can persistently obtain when it comes to leap top and size. Motion is tight and satisfying, and while I did get pissed off by a small variety of management decisions I didn’t ever really feel like they had been of large detriment to the general gameplay.
I used to be additionally stunned by the fight choices, which go nicely past what I anticipated. Spongebob solely has a spin assault initially, however shortly positive aspects the flexibility to stomp, fireplace enemy-capturing bubbles, dodge assaults and carry out a long-range kung-fu kick. The enemy selection additionally ramped up steadily, including extra difficult globs of purple goo to combat which had some fascinating mechanics to beat. Fights by no means stayed repetitive for lengthy and had been surprisingly difficult, properly breaking apart the platforming and lightweight puzzle-solving.
Granted, it isn’t good by any means. Some platforming sections do endure because of the lack of a dependable drop-shadow and a few tough signposting. There’s a distinct lack of polish, particularly in sure set-piece sections and fight encounters. Regardless of this, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake nonetheless feels a lower above many platformers I’ve performed and jogged my memory of these uncommon, mid-quality tie-ins you used to search out across the flip of the millennium – issues like X-Males Origins: Wolverine, A Bug’s Life and Spider-Man 2. Video games that had been good – not good – however which had a appeal to them regardless of occasional moments of jankiness.
The worlds visited by Spongebob are additionally actually fascinating, reminding me strongly of these present in different traditional platformers. I received’t spoil the later ones, however I’ll use the primary for example. The primary world showcases a nautically-inspired wild west, with SEAhorse driving sections and a prepare heist. Mr Krabs is given a bandito makeover, Sandy (the Texan astronaut squirrel?) seems as a surprisingly intimidating Sheriff and a blowfish teaches you experience. Spongebob himself can also be given a cowboy makeover. Between these encounters, you might be tasked with accumulating cactus juice from varied cacti, discovered alongside a linear trap-and-enemy-infested path. It’s all properly executed and lends a extra fascinating flavour to the Spongebob universe, but it surely’s the smaller issues – like a string of sarcastic and satirically clever cow skulls – which elevate the setting change. The later worlds proceed this mixture of satire and absurdity to create some actually fascinating settings which really feel distinctive and recent regardless of the very fact they’ve been executed earlier than in different video games. It simply goes to show that you may reuse concepts however nonetheless make them your personal and I discovered myself eagerly awaiting every new world to see what they might do with it. The degrees don’t outlast their welcome both, although they do include further content material to return to when you’ve unlocked later talents.
As you’d anticipate, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is stuffed with humour, and while not all of it’s comedy gold there are many moments that the majority will discover humorous. It’s filled with references and in-jokes for Spongebob followers (equivalent to a big selection of costumes for Spongebob to put on which mirror sure episodes of the present,) however there’s additionally a bunch of extra basic pop-culture references to search out – like an early reference to the invisible man leaving his invisible automobile in questionable locations. What I discovered essentially the most amusing was simply how trusting and naive the primary character is. For instance, it’s clear that the fortune teller is a villain from the get-go, however the sheer incontrovertible fact that Spongey-bob trusts her instantly, regardless of overwhelming proof that she’s the one behind the disaster was a lot funnier than it had any proper to be. It’s clear that this can be a world to evaluate from the surface and that the true humour of Spongebob comes from witnessing him fail upwards regardless of his incompetence. Typically it actually seems like an episode of the present – for higher or worse – and I feel that’s an actual achievement inside a tie-in sport.
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake can also be an arguably fairly sport. While I wasn’t a fan of the considerably clean faces of characters throughout dialogue, many of the sport’s animations are glorious and the general look feels ripped straight from the present. It’s vibrant and interesting, with a mode which displays the absurd and kooky world nicely. Textures and results additionally look nice for essentially the most half – even on the Swap – and there have been occasions once I was stunned by simply how good this sport appears to be like. It additionally sounds good, with glorious voice performing by the unique present forged and a variety of music underpinning the journey.
Total SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake was a welcome shock to play. I went in anticipating a low-budget platformer with an annoying protagonist, however what I discovered was a refreshingly enjoyable expertise with a singular aesthetic and a few genuinely glorious moments. While this isn’t going to transform religious Sponge-haters this can be a must-buy for Bikini-Bottomites of all ages. It could even have wider enchantment to followers of the style in want of a brand new, refreshing mascot platformer.
Reviewed on the Xbox Platform, Seize your copy right here https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/video games/retailer/spongebob-squarepants-the-cosmic-shake/9NDVBN7QKLPC
Platforms: Nintendo Swap, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Home windows
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